Top 5 Free Knit Baby Booties

As promised in the post about Ceradka's Etsy shop, the Top 5 list of free knit baby booties patterns is finally ready.

So let's see who made it:

Image by Saartje Knits

1. Saartje's Bootees by Saartje de Bruijn from Saartje Knits - this pattern is without a doubt one of the most popular free patterns on the web and is currently topping the Ravelry chart in the same category with as I write this 9146 projects compared to 1697 projects for the runner up - Christine's Stay-On Baby Booties.

These booties are a great choice, because they look fashionable enough for a little princess or a gentleman and you can customize them any way you want - you could knit with single or multiple colors, you could use different buttons and additional embellishments and you could even experiment with the stitch pattern. If you're looking for insipiration and ideas - check the results from my search on Google Images.

The instructions for the booties come in PDF format and are very detailed and clear. There are even some pictures explaining how to make the left and the right strap, so what more could we possibly do, except of giving Saartjes Bootees a go - even if it means to make a pair in size 6/7 or bigger...

2. Stay-On Booties - Time to cheat (just a bit). What follows are a couple of really nice free patterns for stay-on booties and I really couldn't give a preference to one or another, because all of them have something nice about them. I decided to put them into 2nd place not only because they look good but also for their practicality - you can be almost sure that they stay on and warm your baby's feet - at least for a while longer than usual.

Image by chopped tomatoes            Image by pickinandthrowin              Image by lanaecotone

• Greemy Baby Booties by Chopped Tomatoes - beautifully made with a single seam on the sole
• Seamless Booties Bottom Up and Seamless Booties Top Down by YarnThrower from Pickin' And Throwin' - two variations of the same pattern. Not only nice but also very comfortable for baby feet, as they have no seems at all!
• Scarpine Alessandra by Lana E Cotone. Even though the blog is in Italian, there is an English version of the pattern. What I really like about these booties is the beautiful cable top and the detailed instructions.

Image by sockpixie

3. Magic Slippers by Sockpixie - here's a true classic. You can make these   from any leftover yarn and when it comes to embellishing it - let your imagination run wild - for example why not put a tiny round nose, eyes, whiskers and a pair of tiny ears, to turn them into cute pair of mice or kittens...

You can find the instructions here.

Image by autumnblossomknits

4. Mary Jane Booties by Lucie Sinkler - another very popular pattern. You can find images of this style of booties as knit or crochet projects and they look equally good. Some of the feedback I've seen online is that these are easier to knit compared to Saartije's Booties because the single strap is much easier to knit.

The basic pattern instructions are provided by Lucie Sinkler on howstuffworks.com

Image by Kids Tricot

5. Kiholo Booties by Muriel Agator from Kids Tricot - I chose this pattern because it's quite different. It creates the illusion of a bootie within a bootie and the end result is very nice.

The PDF pattern for Les Chaussons Kiholo (doesn't that sound cute ;) in English can be found here. And for those, who just like me are curious what Kiholo means, apparently it's a bay in Hawaii. Judging by the pictures I've seen Kiholo Bay is pretty stunning...

I hope you found this list helpful and that it made up your mind about selecting your next baby project. If you have any other favorites, feel free to post them as comments and share them with me and your fellow knitters.